THE DARK

Adelle and her daughter Sarah have just arrived from New York in a small village in Wales to reunite with James, Adelle's ex-husband and Sarah's father. James lives in a large house with an attached slaughterhouse right on the edge of a cliff, a place where a large number of followers of a strange religious cult committed mass suicide. During an excursion, Sarah disappears into the waters of the beach below the cliff, and while James searches the waters to find the child's body, Adelle is desperate with guilt; until one night the woman finds a child wandering around the house: it is Ebrill, who died 50 years ago! At this point, Adelle begins to believe that an ancient Welsh legend may have some truth to it; the legend tells of Annwyn, a limbo where the souls of the dead end up, but from which one can escape and return to earth if a living person takes the returning dead's place. In this early summer marked by cinematic horror, between apocalyptic omens and killer molds, there is also room for a healthy dose of chills provided by a small English film that stands out from the crowd to occupy a very personal place in the cinematic supernatural universe. "The Dark," while fitting into the supernatural genre based on restless spirits, provides a completely different and entirely original approach to the theme, drawing inspiration from Welsh folklore. The story told in this film is the legend of Annwyn, a decaying parallel reality where the souls of the dead end up; but the legend also tells of the possibility of the dead being able to return to life, simply through the sacrifice of one of the living: a simple exchange. Pagan myths/rites offer countless ideas for creating excellent stories of ancestral fears and subtle unease, but rarely are satisfactory results achieved as with this "The Dark," a film built on an ironclad screenplay (based on the novel "The Sheep" by Simon Maginn), where everything fits perfectly, every event has an acceptable consequence, and the characters, for once, are not just simple caricatures. James (a Sean Bean in part) is an affectionate and sympathetic father, eager to make the most of the little time he has with his daughter, as if guilt-ridden by the fact that he cannot be near her daily; Sarah (an unlikable and not entirely convincing Sophie Stuckey) is a daughter upset by her parents' separation, victim of a mother sometimes too distracted; Adelle (Maria Bello, very good in her role) is the distracted mother, often selfish, perhaps unable to manage a family alone. Together, they are like the sheep that fill the film, at the mercy of events, ready to throw themselves from a precipice to appease the bloodthirsty thirst of a mocking destiny. The direction of John Fawcett ("Ginger Snaps - Licantropia Evolution") is solid and essential, far from any kind of virtuosity or visual recherche, but of great professionalism; special mention goes to the natural locations, which offer us splendid Welsh landscapes consisting of eerie rocky beaches and green fields populated by dozens of sheep and ominous monoliths. Another merit of "The Dark" is the excellent photography of Christian Sebaldt, intent on showing us bright exteriors and gothic, diffused interiors, contrasted by the putrid and dusty sepia-tinted interiors of Anwynn, not far from the dreamlike dimension of Silent Hill. The only flaw in an otherwise perfect film is an excessive slowness in the middle part, a defect that can cause the not negligible problem of distracting the viewer's attention from the story told. "The Dark" is therefore a film warmly recommended, especially if you are looking in a horror film for a convincing and original story and a good atmosphere of unease.